Overview

Three years ago, Caro Warrick was acquitted for the murder of her best friend Amelia Bettencourt, but the lingering doubts of everyone around Caro are affecting her life. Sharon McCone is confident that she can succeed where other detectives have failed (though at times it's hard to shake her own misgivings about what happened), but when Caro is brutally beaten right at Sharon's doorstep, the investigation takes on a whole new course. How many more people remain at risk until ...

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Overview

Three years ago, Caro Warrick was acquitted for the murder of her best friend Amelia Bettencourt, but the lingering doubts of everyone around Caro are affecting her life. Sharon McCone is confident that she can succeed where other detectives have failed (though at times it's hard to shake her own misgivings about what happened), but when Caro is brutally beaten right at Sharon's doorstep, the investigation takes on a whole new course. How many more people remain at risk until Amelia's murderer is finally caught?

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Bestseller Muller’s strong 31st Sharon McCone mystery (after 2011’s City of Whispers) centers on Caro Warrick, who was tried three years earlier for murdering her best friend, Amelia Bettencourt, a member of a prominent San Francisco political family. Caro is seeking McCone’s help in establishing the truth of Bettencourt’s murder. Warrick allegedly shot the other woman 12 times in Bettencourt’s Nob Hill apartment after learning that her friend was having an affair with her lover, up-and-coming stockbroker Jake Green. Green’s suspicions insured her indictment Although Warrick was acquitted at trial, popular sentiment still regards her as guilty. Her efforts to rehabilitate her reputation have led Warrick to partner with a true crime writer, but a vindictive journalist, who has a vendetta against Warrick in part because of her support for gun control, is also planning a book and is trying to block hers. Unexpected plot turns complement a plausible, relatable lead character. Agent: Molly Friedrich, Friedrich Literary. (Nov.)

Asbury Park Sunday Press

The author is one of the few female writers adept in writing about the hard-boiled detective...Muller's heroine/sleuth, Sharon McCone, is compelling and endlessly interesting."

From the Publisher

The author is one of the few female writers adept in writing about the hard-boiled detective...Muller's heroine/sleuth, Sharon McCone, is compelling and endlessly interesting."—Asbury Park Sunday Press

"Top-notch mystery and more from one of the genre's Grand Masters."—Library Journal

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Meet the Author

Marcia Muller has written many novels and short stories. Her novel Wolf in the Shadows won the Anthony Boucher Award. The recipient of the Private Eye Writers of America's Lifetime Achievement Award and the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award—their highest accolade—she lives in northern California with her husband, mystery writer Bill Pronzini.

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McCone's Back in the Game

Sharon McCone definitely has her game back in this lastest installment of Marcia Muller's long running series featuring the San Francisco-based dectective. Fans already know that McCone has struggled to overcome the lingering effects of a bullet wound in her head that left her full conciously but unable to move or communicate. While she retainsd a heightened sense of mortality and lingering fears, she charges ahead in this action-filled story full of Muller's plots and subplots that are rarely predictable and never fail to satisfy.

The story begins with a new client who was found innocent of a brutal murder, but would like McCone's services to investigate and fully exonerate her of the crime -- so she can include it in a book about the crime. McCone reluctantly accepts the worman as a client -- only to find her literally dead on her door step. The story takes off from there, and if some of the incidents seem overly dramatic or unnecesary, they bring the book to a satifactory conclusion and help set the stage for further developments in the futures of McCone's detective agency, her marriage with Hy Ripensky, and introduces another little Savage who will hopefully add more familial drama now that Mick is beginning to settle down.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted February 13, 2013

I love when big shakeups happen in the McCone books. There has

I love when big shakeups happen in the McCone books. There has clearly been a transition afoot for the past few books - ever since the lead character was injured in a shooting. Readers saw a similar transition when McCone left All Souls and struck out on her own. It took a few books to move from the end of All Souls to the beginning of the next period in the series at Pier 24-1/2. It's a lot of upheaval, but it's really fun to watch. To the person who wanted to know how Hy and Sharon made out starting over, just wait for the next book. Muller likes to give readers a good cliffhanger. And the next one will be worth the wait - it always is.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted November 14, 2012

Great read BU
Great read but too short

Would have liked to know how Hy and Sharon made out starting over etc

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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Kjo1

Posted January 14, 2014

She lost me on page 31. I'm sick to death of all the hatred betw

She lost me on page 31. I'm sick to death of all the hatred between political parties, and now she has to bring it into what would otherwise probably be a very good story. I've loved this series for years, but I'm just so sick of the nastiness. My experience has been that the only people who act like the evil columnist, and the oh, so holier than thou investigator, are people so deeply immersed in their own bullcrap that they, for whatever reason, never even leave their little circle of people who, like dashboard bobble heads, agree with all. The vast majority of the people we meet every day just normal, happy, everyday folks enjoying the dog park, or coffee shop, or just trying to get through a lousy day at work with some semblance of humor intact. I'm just done with these authors who have to drag the hate into a good story. This is my hour of escape, damnit! And you just had to drag in the crap! I'm just sorry I already paid for the next book in the series. I gave it two stars for the excellent writing, but it keeps jumping to three. Ruined my short window of escape, so only 2 stars!

0 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

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